Racial inequality and the Civil war

The abolition movement became the most intense reform activity of the period. Beginning in colonial times, many Americans, called abolitionists, had determined an end to slavery. By the early 1800-s every Northern state had outlawed slavery. But the economy of the Southern States depended more and more on slaves as a source of cheap labour. The question of whether to outlaw or allow slavery became an important political and social issue in the early 1800-s. Throughout the years, a balance between the number of free states and slave states had been sought. This meant that both sides would have an equal number of representatives in the United States Senate. As of 1819 the federal government had achieved a balance between free and slave states. There were 11 of each.

The long dispute between the North and the South over the issue of slavery came to head after the Mexican War ended in 1848. The vast new area the United States had acquired in the West during the 1840-s created a problem Americans could not avoid. It was obvious that the new land would sooner or later be split up into territories and then into states. Proslavery Americans, Southerners on the whole argued against restraints on slavery in the new territories and states being established. Anti-slavery Americans, mainly Northerners, wanted the federal government to outlaw slavery in the newly-acquired lands. Still others proposed the “doctrine of popular sovereignity”. That is, they said the people of the territories and states should decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery. All these alternatives seriously risked upsetting the balance in the Senate.

After 1854 Southerners increasingly referred to themselves as a separate national group. In the north abolitionists stepped up their campaign against slavery. Eleven Southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America with two others “associated” and so the flag showed 13 stars. The election of 1860 also reflected the nation`s division. The Democratic Party split into Northern and Southern wings. Only the Republicans remained united. They nominated Abraham Lincoln for president and this republican unity helped Lincoln win the election. Lincoln had earned the reputation as an opponent of slavery and his election was unacceptable to the South.

The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Southern troops fired on Fort Sumter, a military post in Charleston Harbour. The North had superior financial and industrial strength and a larger population than the South gained the upper hand at first. Gradually the North took more territory until Confederate resistance wore down and Union armies swept through the South. On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee – the commander of the Confederate Army – surrendered to the Union commander General Ulysses S. Grant. The four years of bloody fighting between the North and South had a staggering effect on the nation. No other war in history has taken so many American lives.

On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared freedom for slaves in all areas of the Confederacy that were still in rebellion against the Union. Toward the end of the Civil War the North set out to establish terms under which Confederate States would be readmitted to the Union. The process through which the South returned was called Reconstruction. Northerners divided into two groups over Reconstruction policy. The moderates wanted to end the bitterness between the North and the South, and the radicals believed the South should be punished. President Lincoln might have worked out a compromise. But assassin John Wilkes Booth shot him on April 14, 1865. Lincoln died the next day. Vice President Andrew Johnson became president. He tried to carry out Lincoln`s policy, but he was unable to overcome radical opposition.

The Reconstruction programme drafted by Congress included laws to further the rights of blacks. The 13-th Amendment to the Constitution outlawed slavery throughout the United States. The 14-th Amendment confirmed the citizenship of blacks, and the 15-th Amendment made it illegal to deny the right to vote on the basis of race. White Southerners loyal to their old traditions bitterly resented the new political system. Many joined the Ku Klux Klan, a secret society that used violence to keep blacks, Jews and other ethnic minorities from voting and trying to achieve equality. The original society was officially disbanded in 1869 but remained a powerful source. The society continued destroying the property of black people and even sometimes lynching them until the 1980`s. Congress insisted that the Confederate States agree to follow all federal laws before being readmitted to the Union. Between 1866 and 1870 all the Confederate States returned to the Union. Reconstruction had limited success. It expanded the legal rights of blacks and set up public school systems. But the old social order, based on white supremacy soon returned to the South. The fundamental problem of the black`s place in society remained to haunt future generations.